New York

New York Deer: A mild 2015-16 winter increased populations into 2016, an estimated 900,000 deer pre-hunt. A modest population increase into 2017 as the herd recovers from the harsh 2014-15 winter. An estimated 680,000 deer in 2015 post-hunt, 880,000 pre-hunt. Herd analysis at right. Historical New York deer hunting data and news archive.

... February is a great month for habitat management projects that involve cutting trees to provide new food and cover for deer and other wildlife... Felling trees for firewood or forest thinning makes the tops immediately available to deer. Later, stump sprouts and new plant growth caused by the gap in the tree canopy may provide additional browse opportunities..,

... The DEC said city residents can use crossbows to remove deer but must obey state and city ordinances, which outline a number of strict guidelines including restrictions on using the weapon near public highways, within 250 feet from homes, farms, schools ... eligibility for the permits include "demonstrated impacts and the lack or failure of other practical alternatives to alleviate the problem." ...

... Herkimer County Legislature last week unanimously approved a dog quarantine for 2018 due to the animal’s possible depredation on the deer population... a dog control officer can seize the dog if it is seen running and the owner can face a civil penalty if a dog injures or cripples a deer...

... Hunters For Deer is suing the town over an ordinance which prohibits the "discharge of long bows within 500 feet of a dwelling, school or occupied structure, or a park, beach, playground or any other place of outdoor recreational or non-recreational activities." ...

... according to a case study of the Cayuga Heights deer management program, a total of 152 does (100 percent of all female deer) were sterilized between 2012 and 2013, with an additional five sterilized in 2016 and, over a two year period beginning in 2015, White Buffalo removed 72 males by way of crossbow. "Since we've started this program, we have not had a deer-car collision in the village (of Cayuga Heights)," said Woodard...

... While "natural" levels for deer are generally accepted to be approximately 8.5 per square mile, some areas of DeWitt have approximately 85 deer per square mile. [the state of Delaware targets 40 deer per square mile, more information] .. the goal is to reduce the crisis-level Lyme Disease problem, often attributed to the deer population [this type of cull not shown to be effective] ...

... the first photo we ever published of a deer on Staten Island... A dead deer was found beside the West Shore Expressway on September 23, 1994... how did the deer get here? Simple: They swam over from New Jersey. At least some of them did...

A white-tailed deer coming to shore at Mount Loretto Unique Area after swimming across the Raritan Bay from New Jersey. November 8, 2014.

A gorgeous, snow-covered deer visited a Staten Island home, and came close enough for one person to record a video of this beautiful creature. - New York, January 5, 2018

... illegally shooting three bucks with a bow and a crossbow. Two of the deer were reportedly killed in his backyard over bait... Meanwhile, DeWitt officials in late October approved a plan to use federal sharpshooters to hunt and kill deer in targeted areas of the community...

... Six years ago BU was only a few days away from a deer cull during its winter break that would have killed 90 percent of the campus’ deer ... A lawsuit from a nearby Vestal resident and an animal-rights group led to a New York Supreme Court ruling in January 2012 that stopped the cull until the university prepared an environmental impact statement...Since then, there’s been no movement on the issue...

... For the fourth consecutive year, Vassar College is planning to hold a deer cull in January. Activists on Sunday plan to protest ... the estimated deer population was 42 animals per square mile before fawns were born. The college said the optimal number is 10 to 20 deer per square mile... [see deer density recommendations]

... New York hunters harvested about 18 percent more deer in the Northern Zone and 14 percent more deer in the Southern Zone compared to the same period last year... too early to say if this reflects an increase in hunter compliance with mandatory reporting rules, an increase in harvest, or both ...

Through the third weekend of the Southern Zone regular big game season, hunters reported 69,550 deer in 2017 compared to 61,184 through the same period in 2016. For the Northern Zone, hunters have reported 11,349 deer in 2017 compared to 9,417 deer in 2016...

... with about 590,000 big game hunters, the annual harvest is 230,000 deer or so (buck and doe)... only about one in every three hunters will even harvest a deer ... annual cost for the regular season firearms hunting privilege (license) in New York is $22 (includes big game and small game) ...

... Two environmental conservation organizations have filed a federal lawsuit against the Fire Island National Seashore and National Park Service to block a plan that would allow the hunting of white-tailed deer on Fire Island...

... property owners had previously hired sharpshooters from the U.S. Department of Agriculture, who set up cameras and bait stations and were successful for a few years, Mr. Blair said. But after a while, “it was sort of the law of diminishing returns,” he said, adding that hiring the USDA proved expensive...

... Responding to concerns from hunters that they were interested in increasing the number of older, larger-antlered bucks in the state's deer population, DEC in recent years looked a variety of regulatory and non-regulatory approaches. But based on that study, DEC concluded regulations were not compatible with hunter values ...

... the causative agent of Lyme disease, Borrelia burgdorferi... contiguous counties west of the Hudson Valley in upstate New York. In both Broome and Chenango Counties, attached and unattached ticks harvested from whitetailed deer had significantly lower prevalences of B.burgdorferi than those collected from vegetation... These data suggest that a mechanism in whitetailed deer may aid in clearing the pathogen from attached deer ticks ...

... a bill proposed by area legislators Sens. John DeFrancisco, R-N.Y., and David Valesky, D-N.Y., to amend a section of the environmental conservation law to make sure hunters can shoot and kill deer — often called culling — within 300 feet of public roads ...

...The city contractor hired to sterilize Staten Island bucks stopped the effort until early next year because acorns falling from oak trees are tasty alternatives to corn bait used to lure deer into surgery... 1,011 Vasectomies so far ...

... The dozens of white deer roaming the 7,000-acre Seneca Army Depot in the Finger Lakes have been tough to see for years ... But the non-profit Seneca White Deer will offer bus tours starting in October ...

... Phillip Baker, executive director at the American Lyme Disease Foundation, said there is a misconception of deer being the main transmitters of tick-borne illnesses. Baker said mice and other small rodents are the main organisms that keep the diseases percolating in the area where they are introduced...

... Some of the issues white deer bring about, said Michalenko, are vehicular damage, impacts on natural vegetation, landscaping damage and an increased tick population which has lead to a strong presence of Lyme Disease... [deer density not generally related to Lyme disease risk]

... the town approved a program allowing property owners to hunt on their land if the property meets certain requirements ... I have friends who have young children that would love to come over but during hunting season, I just feel like I'm trapped in my home,” ... because the land next-door is on the list of approved bow-hunting sites...

... a bill requiring the Department of Environmental Conservation to report by January 1, 2019 on deer management practices in urban and suburban areas of the state...includes: An evaluation of alternative methods of control other than hunting. That may include, but not be limited to capture and euthanization; capture and removal; and fertility control ...

... For the most part, scrapes are buck-to-buck communications although does do visit scrapes. Wildlife biologists believe that scrapes allow bucks with overlapping areas to monitor one another especially in light of their social rank...

... New York State Department of Environmental Conservation released a memo earlier this year ... restrictions make it hard for communities like Syracuse to cull deer because they can only use sharpshooters in open areas that aren't near the road or other homes ...

... There’s an emerging discussion of deer harvesting as a commercial activity,” ...“Most of the state-level conservation funding that state agencies use to manage our fish and wildlife resources is driven entirely by hunting and fishing,” ...

... Because bucks can travel great distances to breed, sterilizing them requires covering a lot of ground. So cities with deer sterilization programs have mostly focused on sterilizing the female deer, which are more stationary... they estimate that about 92 percent of the sexually active male deer on the island were sterilized...

... “Once common in New York, moose disappeared from the state in the 1860s largely due to habitat change and unregulated hunting ... It was not until 1980 moose once again roamed New York’s forests, moving in from neighboring states. By this time, abandoned farmlands and forest practice changes created areas of new and old growth, providing excellent moose habitat.” ..,

... controversial part of the plan [to reduce risk of chronic wasting disease] has been its complete ban on deer urine. ... The report acknowledges that the New York deer-hunting industry, which is dominated by firearm hunters, brings in more than one and a half billion dollars a year ... The deer-urine industry, on the other hand, is most vocally supported by bow hunters, who are comparatively few ...

Sit back, relax, and enjoy this zen moment of a deer foraging along the pond's edge this morning on the Sapsucker Woods Pond cam. - September 18, 2017 New York

Hunters, government, industry at odds over deer urine September 3, 2017 New York, The News Tribune... Proposed regulations would add New York to a growing list of states and Canadian provinces banning deer urine lures in an effort to prevent the spread of chronic wasting disease, a deadly brain infection that's working its way through North American deer, elk and moose populations ...

... began in 2007 after complaints from landowners whose property and gardens were destroyed ... we have no idea about how many deer we have in the Village and what the relationship is of the number of deer to the damage they do," ... "I'm concerned that it may be perceived as killing for killing's sake," ...

... In 2003, it became illegal to feed wild deer here in New York... Eventually an arrest in Sullivan County for feeding deer shined a spotlight on the feeding ban. After a plea of innocent and a trial that ended with a guilty verdict for the offender, an appeal was filed which ended with the feeding ban being overturned by the court...

... Current restrictions do not allow deer management to take place within 300 feet of a public road and 500 feet of another property. [safety issue] ... problematic to deer management plans ... Central New York Democratic Assemblywoman Pamela Hunter and Republican state Sen. John DeFrancisco have both introduced bills to amend the law...

... “You don’t need deer to have a tick problem,” Mr. Amann said, pointing out there are problems with ticks in New York’s Central Park where there are no deer and places in Nassau County with ticks but no deer. “The idea of running around, shooting deer and there will be less ticks, is nonsense.” ...

Parasites, snails may factor in Adirondack moose decline August 8, 2017 New York, Cornell Chronicle... Our results show that moose foraging in areas with high soil moisture may likely encounter higher densities of gastropods – snails and slugs – which likely increases the risk of parasitic threats ... As of 2010, New York state wildlife biologists had put the Adirondack moose population at 800..,

New York State Department of Environmental Conservation (DEC) Commissioner Basil Seggos today announced the release of a draft New York State Interagency CWD Risk Minimization Plan for public comment... Public Comments on the Draft Plan Accepted Through September 1 ...

... In New York ... growing number of eagle deaths from lead poisoning in recent years... eagles and other scavengers eat the guts of deer ... Bits of lead bullets consumed along with the meat ...

Head of the Harbor, Village considers allowing dart guns to control deer population July 16, 2017 New York, Newsday... trustees decided last year to pursue nonlethal means of population control and contacted researchers from the Humane Society of the United States and Tufts University exploring use of porcine zona pellucid, or PZP, a substance derived from pig ovaries that uses an animal’s own immune system to prevent pregnancy in wildlife populations ...

... The questionnaire came after the village’s deer sterilization project with White Buffalo Inc. was stalled last August after the village and the company it hired to sterilize the population had no new contract prepared for the third phase of the project. The first two phases of the project were completed in 2015...

... A Deer Management Task Force spent a year of research ... “We all were for the idea of going forward to get rid of the deer, but we couldn’t, in good conscience, take the information we had and recommend to the city council to do that,” ... “And that’s not what our analysis showed us we should do ...

... it was determined by the task force that the City should not take a lethal approach to managing the deer population, but rather manage deer-related impacts,” the final report states... citing the city’s density and inadequate hunting environment in most areas...

... contains leading questions on attitudes about 4-poster units — feeding stands that brush deer with a tickicide, permethrin... which he said have been effective on Ram Island. “You can shoot all the deer you want, but you’re not going to get rid of ticks,” he said. “The problem here is mice,” Mr. Amann said...

... The next step is finding out just how many deer are out there... "We count them just as it gets to be dawn," said research wildlife biologist Brian Underwood. "We’ve been doing that once a week for about 18 months straight.” ...

This deer has a shot in the NBA with that vertical jump. Watch as one Staten Islander caught footage of a deer hopping over a fence into his driveway. - June 14, 2017

... The gestation period for the whitetail deer is always 200 days, give or take a few days... If fawns were born in a trickle, say at a steady pace through a six-week or two month period, predators would key on them and put an even more severe dent in the whitetail population than occurs now...

One trail cam. One location. Three months, give or take. Deer. Coyotes. And the transition from winter to spring in the Adirondacks' Champlain Valley. - June 10, 2017 New York

... Sharpshooters with USDA Wildlife services ... Baiting activities were interfered with ... People would try to discourage deer from using the stations by, at times, making noise at nearby properties...

Pa., NY in dead heat at protecting the yearling buck May 21, 2017 New York, Wellsville Daily Reporter... In New York, a 1.5-year old buck that made it through his first deer season as a fawn, and then survived to the next hunting season is called a yearling. But in Pa. it is called a 1.5-year old ... back in the 1990s ... between 60 and 70 percent of the bucks harvested were yearlings... by 2010 ... about 50 percent...

... Hunters in New York State harvested an estimated 213,061 deer during the 2016-17 hunting seasons, an estimated five percent increase over 2015-16 ... 106,055 antlerless deer and 107,006 antlered bucks. Statewide, this represents a 7.5-percent increase in buck harvest from 2015, reflecting modest population growth following the losses experienced during the harsh winter of 2014-15... [full report]

... the Bronx Zoo welcomed ... two male and two female Père David’s deer fawns ... native to China, but centuries of hunting and habitat loss decimated the population. By the 1860s, the world’s only herd belonged to the Emperor of China and was kept isolated and heavily guarded in his Royal Hunting Garden...

... Vassar first decided to conduct a deer cull in 2010... estimates that there are 26 deer per square mile on the preserve, greater than their stated optimal range of a density between 10 and 20 per square mile. The VFEP provides no source for this optimal density [optimal community deer density ... deer density and forest regeneration] ...

... goals are two-fold, to reduce the risk of lyme disease and the number of car crashed caused by deer [deer culls not generally effective against lyme] ... non-lethal repellants and fencing are also being considered...

... the city gave vasectomies to 78 fawns and 642 adults around the borough ... 2014 aerial survey on parkland found 762 of the animals — up from just 24 in 2008. The most recent survey in 2016 for the entire borough found only 527 ...

... Arguably, urban wildlife management ranks with species imperilment as one of the greatest conservation challenges of our time, but for a very different reason. The problems people experience with urban wildlife, if not curbed, could lead to popular backlash against wildlife and habitat conservation within or proximate to urban areas...

Preliminary harvest estimates indicate that New York hunters took approximately 214,000 deer in 2016, up about 5% from 2015. Hunters took an estimated 109,000 adult bucks (10% increase from 2015) and 105,000 antlerless deer (1.5% increase from 2015). These preliminary numbers are consistent with patterns of hunter reports during the seasons and biologists’ expectations for the harvest...

... study in 2014 estimated there are nearly 220 deer ... 11.5 square miles [19 deer per square mile, see deer density info] ... The Task Force recommended ... that "that humane, non-lethal deer management methods - such as surgical sterilization - should be utilized whenever possible, although most agree that lethal means may need to be considered in the short term."...

... pleaded guilty in connection with an elk poaching case in Colorado ... Bringing hunter-killed deer, elk, or moose carcasses into New York from CWD [chronic wasting disease]-positive states is illegal and increases the risk of spreading the disease...

... Since 1978, members of Deer Search, Inc., have been assisting big game hunters track and recover wounded big game in New York state... On average, they find one in every three deer and bears they are called on to track...

... Under the guidelines, the largely volunteer force can no longer nurse injured or sick adult white-tailed deer indefinitely. They have 48 hours to either release or euthanize them. They can't take in adult moose and black bears at all. And fawns and black bear cubs can be rehabilitated only between April 15 and Sept. 15...

... Seventy-eight male fawns and 642 adult bucks were given vasectomies ... Agency contractor White Buffalo Inc. was paid $2 million this fiscal year to carry out the city's plan ... Five deer were euthanized by the city as of Monday after getting injured during capture attempts...

... The state Department of Environmental Conservation has looked at expanding areas where antler restrictions are mandatory, but has held off because hunter opinion has been split down the middle... The "Yearling buck protection program" would require any legal buck taken in many Southern Tier wildlife management units to have at least four antler points to a side...

... The three-year vasectomy effort is expected to eventually reduce the herd 10 to 30 percent... Sterilizing males instead of females is meant to be faster, cheaper and more humane. ... Five deer were euthanized by the city as of Friday after getting injured during capture attempts...

... I’ve been out here for 60 years and I can say that because the average lifespan of a deer is maybe 5 years, this is at least 11 generations of deer from when I got here. Genetically, it is entirely possible a herd of deer could change in that time, lose their fear of cars, and keep their distance from them when they see one coming...

... There may be fewer deer on the Island, but no one here or in other communities seeking a way to count deer has come up with a reliable method... the committee opted to delay further investigation of an MIT study dealing with changing the DNA of white-footed mice that would then not be able to serve as conduits for ticks that spread Lyme disease...

... begun reviewing deer management plan ... will also head out into the field to monitor spots where issues with deer have been reported... will work with Stony Brook University students to conduct a count of the number of deer in the town ...

... former Seneca Army Depot land and its ever dwindling herd of white deer. ... The once 200-plus herd of white deer has now dwindled to less than half, the lowest census ... the inflated Army appraisal of the land will take a year or more of paperwork to rectify ...

... concerned about the overpopulation of deer in their ...Williams said one wildlife biologist's "pellet count" method estimated there were 74 deer per quarter square mile which "translates to 1,800 deer in Mamaroneck! This was an absurd figure. . . The estimate only supports the belief that deer populations are inflated to encourage hunting activity." ...

... Staten Island has become a hunting ground for deer poachers, but only one has ever been caught... DEC encourages members of the public to report poachers by using DEC's toll-free 24 hour hotline 1-844-DEC-ECOS (1-844-332-3267) ... see a map of where dead deer have been found

... The U.S. Department of Agriculture sharpshooters started their preparations shortly before Christmas ... Village Clerk Lorrie Corsette reminded people that village parks are closed from dusk until dawn...

... Legislator David W. Forsythe, R-Lisbon, has argued that the schedule should be reversed so doe can’t be harvested in December, when they are more likely to be pregnant with two or more deer. The switch would allow doe to be harvested during the fall muzzleloader season, when they are less likely to be pregnant...

... Recent guidelines by New York state officials mandating limited intervention by wildlife "rehabilitators" stirred heated debate and a lawsuit even before last month's case of the white-tailed buck that became a celebrity for about two weeks when it appeared in Harlem's Jackie Robinson Park...

In New York: Somebody Really Shot And Killed A Deer, Then Threw It In The Trash! - January 6, 2017

... deer swimming with a plastic pumpkin stuck on its head ... "The irony is that our DPW chief, who's in charge of townwide deer reduction, was wrestling with the deer, to get the pumpkin off its head ...

... The New York State Department of Environmental Conservation issued new rules at the beginning of this year for wildlife rehabilitators, drastically limiting their ability to care for injured adult white-tailed deer and placing some — less dramatic — restrictions on their ability to care for orphaned fawns...

... bitter winters from 2011-14 caused a decline in deer population, coupled with a warm winter in 2015 possibly leading to fewer hunters in the woods, has contributed to lower deer harvests ... “Almost all of the deaths of deer from the winters were fawns,” ...

This deer couldn't get to shelter in the middle of a snow storm. It was trapped for hours and likely overnight on a frozen pond in Buffalo, New York. More than 50 first responders including firefighters and an underwater recovery team braved the ice about 3 to 4 inches thick to rescue the poor thing whose legs were frozen from the cold. They used a rope for safety and pulled the deer ashore. - December 19, 2016 New York

... at 12:55 p.m. that the state was “securing the safe transport of the deer to suitable habitat upstate.” ... “The city did not accept our offer until just before noon today, and while we were arriving on scene the deer died in the city’s possession.” ...

... stress and the day and a half that the deer spent at a city animal shelter in East Harlem... the city and state issued competing and sometimes self-contradicting updates on the deer and what should be done with him... He was beloved, a holiday-season gift to a beleaguered city, a surrogate reindeer camped out just a block from St. Nicholas Avenue...

De Blasio's deer death wish is granted December 16, 2016 New York, New York Post... “The deer died in the city’s possession,” a rep for the state Department of Environmental Conservation tweeted. “We offered yesterday to take possession of the deer. The city didn’t accept our offer ­until just before noon [Friday].” ...

... At 7 p.m., the East Harlem animal shelter where the buck had been taken said it had just received orders from the city to put the animal to death. But at 8 p.m., Governor Cuomo’s office released a statement saying that “Governor Cuomo has directed DEC to offer assistance to the city to transport and find a new habitat for it immediately.” ...

... A deer that had beenliving in Jackie Robinson Park in Harlem was captured by the police today after wandering onto the lawn outside a nearby housing complex ... the deer will be humanely euthanized ...

... called police after seeing two bow hunters in his backyard last month. He was told they were working with police and not to worry. This didn't sit well with Libera, since he thinks of the deer as pets...

... proposing a law requiring that bow hunters stay 500 feet away from a neighbor’s house when shooting deer within the village ... follows a Nov. 13 incident in which a deer hit by a hunter’s arrow in the village ran away to die on the property of a neighbo ... who opposes hunting in the residential area...

... three hunters have been killed in accidental shootings since the state’s gun season for deer opened Nov. 19. A fourth hunter died after falling out of a tree stand and two additional hunters have died as the result of medical emergencies in the field ...

DEC seeking input on possible hunting regulations November 28, 2016 New York, Poughkeepsie Journal... One idea being looked at is clarifying and strengthening regulations that prohibit the feeding of wild white-tailed deer. That would include the regulations more explicitly defining bait or feed and clarifying that incidental feeding, such as the attraction of deer or moose to a birdfeeder ...

... For the plan to work, at least 90 percent of male deer on Staten Island have to get vasectomies. Experts say about 40 percent of any deer population is male. So with 468 vasectomies already performed, that puts at least 700 in the herd... The city is paying White Buffalo $2 million this fiscal year for the effort...

... Deer harvests reported to the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation (DEC) through opening weekend show a 13-percent drop compared to a year ago. The 2016 opening weekend had 5,879 deer taken. The 2015 opening weekend saw 6,739 deer harvested...

DEC Invites Initial Feedback on Several Wildlife Regulations Being Considered November 22, 2016 New York, DEC News... DEC invites informal feedback regarding several issues: (1) prohibiting feeding wild white-tailed deer, (2) issuing permits for 4-Poster TickicideTM and 4-PosterTM deer treatment devices, (3) strengthening measures to protect New York deer from Chronic Wasting Disease, (4) eliminating the special permit for hunting and trapping bobcats in the Harvest Expansion Area, and (5) closing the season for take of diamondback terrapin. These ideas are not formal proposals at this time, just options being considered as potential changes for 2017. Please see http://www.dec.ny.gov/outdoor/104785.html to read the details of each issue and to provide feedback.

... has sterilized 450 bucks ... there are more than 2,250 deer in that area ... “You would have to get 90 to 95 percent of them for this to work,” White Buffalo’s Anthony DeNicola admitted to The Post last spring, due to the animals’ polyamorous habits...

... the last recorded deer sightings in the western Southern Tier region was in 1881 near Independence, Allegany County... [“History of the White-Tailed Deer in New York,” written in 1956 by C.W. Severinghaus and C.P. Brown] ... By 1910, while still rare, deer began to appear again in Western New York ...

... The same buck was seen stumbling around the forest that morning... Deer number 360 was one of 13 male and female deer that have died after being tagged through the vasectomy program, and nearly all were hit by cars...

... “New York hunters should anticipate seeing a few more deer this hunting season compared to last year,” according to Jeremy Hurst, DEC big-game biologist. “Many of these deer will be young animals, as conditions were excellent for overwinter fawn survival and production this spring...

Big-game season opens Saturday in New York November 17, 2016 New York, Olean Times Herald...“New York hunters should anticipate seeing a few more deer this hunting season compared to last year,” according to Jeremy Hurst, DEC big-game biologist. “Many of these deer will be young animals, as conditions were excellent for overwinter fawn survival and production this spring...

... about 900,000 deer in New York ... Last year, an estimated 80,000 deer-vehicle collisions happened in New York state ...

Regular Firearms Season for Deer and Bear Begins November 19 November 14, 2016 New York, NYDNR News... The Southern Zone regular season is New York's most popular hunting season, with about 85 percent of New York's 550,000 licensed hunters participating. Harvests during this season account for nearly 60 percent of the total annual statewide deer take and 30 to 60 percent of the statewide bear harvest... DEC is encouraging all hunters across the state to pass up shots at young, small-antlered bucks. In a multi-year study conducted with Cornell University, more than 7,000 hunters surveyed across the state reported wanting more opportunities for taking mature bucks without mandatory restrictions on antler size....

... The rationale is that older buck are more challenging to hunt, yield more meat and bigger racks – and "create more rubs and scrapes and vocalize more – all things that enhance the deer hunting experience," ...

... They were eating her beloved hostas ... Now, the deer here look longingly at her lush backyard through a six-foot mesh barrier that has restored her landscape and sense of well-being. “It cost $5,000, but it was a good investment,” ...

New York Deer News and Information Archive by Topic

New York Data: A mild 2015-16 winter increased deer populations into 2016, about 900,000 pre-hunt. Drought in 2016 for western New York. The 2016-17 hunting data indicates a modest increase into 2017. The herd continues to recover after significant declines in 2014 and 2015 from harsh winters. About 680,000 deer in 2015 post-hunt, 880,000 pre-hunt. Antlerless permits, reduced by 20 to 30 percent in parts of the state to grow the herd. The 2015 deer harvest fell by 15 percent reflecting a harsh 2014-15 winter. About 750,000 deer in 2014 post-hunt, 1,000,000 pre-hunt. The 2014 harvest fell by about 2 percent. Estimated post-hunt population of 800,000 deer in the state in 2013, pre-hunt 1,050,000. A little over a million deer in 2004. Increasing coyote predation. Relatively stable population with some good forest managment, logging, and habitat projects. Population density is mixed with some areas down such as the Adirondacks due to mature forests and in some areas due to coyote predation.

In 2015, the DEC curtailed the harvest of antlerless deer in portions of Jefferson, St. Lawrence, and Franklin counties to increase the population, and increase the harvest of antlerless deer in all or portions of Suffolk, Orange, Ulster, Sullivan, Westchester, Albany, Niagara, Erie, Wyoming, Orleans, Genesee, Monroe, Livingston, Steuben, Wayne, Ontario, Yates, Seneca and Cayuga counties to reduce the population. A total of 626,389 permits were issue in 2015, down 45,393 from 2014. Two harsh winters in 2013-14 and 2014-15 reduced deer populations in the north and central regions. The graph below comes from the New York deer hunting forecast for 2016. "Statewide, we are anticipating deer harvests to be slightly lower in 2015 than in 2014, largely due to some deer mortality this past winter and resulting reductions in antlerless permits in parts of the state." In 2015, the harvest fell by about 15 percent; 47 percent of the bucks were yearlings.

In 2014 deer populations were above goals in 35 percent of the state so the DEC encouraged hunters to take does in central and western New York. In much of the state, deer are below target populations. A mild 2011 - 2012 winter resulted in a greater survival rate for fawns and an abundance of apples and nuts in 2013 provided food for many types of wildlife. From 550,00 to 500,000 hunters take about 220,000 deer per year, about 25 percent on opening day. The state has increased antlerless harvests to reduce the population, but the harvest still favors bucks over does so a population increase is not unexpected.

Peak conception day was found to be November 14 from a study in 2007-09 with the peak range from Nov. 9 through Nov. 20.

Chronic wasting disease was last reported in the state in 2005. It was apparently brought to New York after a taxidermist disposed of infected tissue from a trophy head brought from out of state.

In 2014, bucks accounted for 45.5% of the harvest. In 2014, 52 percent of the bucks in areas without antler restrictions were 1.5 years old compared to 48 percent statewide. In 2013, 48 percent of the herd was 2.5 years or older, up from 28 percent in 2000. 48 percent of the bucks killed in 2013 were 2.5 years or older, up from about 28 percent in the 1990's. Antler restrictions have been imposed in some areas, Quality Deer Management and other factors have influenced hunter decisions to help normalize herd demographics. About $35 million in license sales and federal excise taxes on guns and ammunition.

History: Deer were nearly exterminated from New York by the 1860s, reappearing around 1910. The last recorded deer sightings in the western Southern Tier region was in 1881 near Independence, Allegany County. The deer popultion rose to an estimated 450,000 in 1978 and 800,000 in 1988. Harsh winters in 1948-49 and 1983-84 killed a large percentage of the deer herd, reportedly 80 percent in some areas. The winter of 1978-79 was also severe. Deer population estimate 2009-2014, page 62.

The history of white-tailed deer in New York is tied closely to the patterns of human land use and development. The 1956 document,History of the White-tailed Deer in New Yorkdescribes the distribution and abundance of deer in New York in pre-Colonial times and from the Colonial Period through the mid-1950s.

Suburbs provide ideal deer habitat where deer thrive and have caused conflicts in areas such as Long Island and Cayuga Heights where deer management strategies are a matter of public controversy. Although deer were native to Staten Island, they were hunted to extinction by the early 1900's. The press often makes an issue of the population growth, citing percentage increases from the very low numbers in recent history.

Moose About 800 in 2010, mostly in the woods near the Adirondacks. Native to New York, moose disappeared from the state in the 1860's largely due to habitat change and unregulated hunting. Returned in 1980, moving in from neighboring states.

Bears About 2,500 brown bears

Cougar Eastern cougars were in New York and the east until the early 1900's, but are now considered extinct. In the 1880's dozens were shot by bounty hunters, mostly in the Adirondacks. A cougar sighted in 2010 came from South Dakota and was killed by a car in Connecticut.

Report Sick Deer: The New York State Department of Environmental Conservation (DEC) is asking the public to report any instances of deer appearing sick or acting abnormally. Report sightings to its office in Ray Brook by calling 518-897-1200. Or report it to your nearest DEC regional wildlife office (www.dec.ny.gov/about/50230.html).